Rising energy prices: bakers on the streets to alert public authorities

Simon Bourtembourg, edited by Maxime Asseo 7:57 p.m., January 23, 2023

"I have retirements in August, there are employees that I will not renew", worries Margot, chopsticks brandished at arm's length and apron still floured.

At the head of a bakery with fourteen employees, this is the first time in her life that she has demonstrated.

Faced with the explosion of energy bills, the young woman whose salary has not exceeded 1,600 euros net per month for five and a half years is struggling to get by.

"We are not fighting for nothing, the bakers are never in the street", she adds. 

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"A tariff shield"

Like Margot, many bakers and craftsmen from all over France were in the streets of Paris on Monday to alert the public authorities to their difficulties in the face of the explosion in energy expenditure.

"I don't want help, I'm independent. I don't want to live off the hook of the state", insists Patrick, a baker in the south of France who did not hesitate to leave the bakeries to his apprentices for defend their demands at the head of the procession. 

"My goal is either to create a tariff shield to have a consistent electricity price, or to change European law which says that electricity must be indexed to the price of gas", explains the craftsman to the microphone from Europe 1.

Alongside the bakers, other artisans tread the pavement.

For Charles too, the observation is bitter.

This manager of a small supermarket in a village in the Paris suburbs saw his electricity bill go from 3,900 euros to 17,000 euros per month.

"In three months, the accountant told me it's over. It will make six people with me at the Pôle emploi", concluded the craftsman resigned. 

However, to save these companies, the government has put in place a first tariff shield.

A measure that remains insufficient for many craftsmen, however.